The Set-Up Event

The Difference Between a Set-Up Event and the Inciting Incident + Defining the 2nd Sequence of Your Story:

The Set Up Event

If you didn’t already know, I used to have a solo podcast on the ISA website called The Craft. I also released a book on screenwriting a few years back. A lot of these newsletters are in reference to what I covered in those individual podcast episodes, and virtually all of what you’re reading is from my book (so far, anyway). So…yeah. You’re getting my book for free! Because I want to, and because you deserve it. When I launched the podcast and wrote my book, I didn’t quite know what I was going to cover. I certainly didn’t know what I was going to call it, and a podcast’s success does tend to rely heavily on the name of it. It’s important to interest your audience as quickly as possible, and a good name is a positive start. I finally landed on The Craft simply because it was rather general. I eventually came to the realization that such a title is also referencing the practice of witchcraft. And I couldn’t stop laughing.

I’m not a witch or wizard, and I didn’t sign any deals with any kind of devil, though living in Los Angeles does offer up such potential deals every now and then. I am proud to say I steered clear of any devil worship while living in LA. Thus far anyway. Nonetheless, rest assured that in spite of the oddity of the beginning of this post, I do eventually lighten things up as we dive into the second sequence of a story and discuss The Set-Up Event.

This is all an interesting segue into the topic of this chapter, actually. The Set-Up is kind of like the first impression on a date. It all hinges on how you present yourself right out of the gates. If I were to start babbling on about witchcraft and black magic on a first date, I would assume the girl would probably motion for the waiter to bring the check. But let’s think about that for a second, because as strange as that example may be when trying to bring it back around to writing a screenplay, it does fit. It kind of makes sense, actually.

The Set-Up naturally involves the Main Character in the moment, and that moment is tied to my previous newsletter’s’s topic, “Main Character Stage of Life”, and that “stage of life” dictates the Set-Up Event. In other words, the Main Character is setting up future events – whether he knows it or not - presenting the beginning of a story to an audience - and that story is an upcoming journey that the Main Character needs to experience in order to overcome the flaw he or she is experiencing. Even though, in the above example, the story could likely come to a quick end because your date is going to run out the door after the black magic comment, it still instigates the beginning of something – a reaction. 

If you wanted to simplify this as much possible, the 2nd Act of your movie (or middle episodes of a serialized TV show, for example), is a reaction. That’s pretty much all the 2nd Act is if you boil it down to the most basic element. A reaction to an event. That event is what sets up everything that is going to then happen in the middle of your movie, but, and here’s the important point to remember, from a character perspective. I’ll say that again: the set-up event is what sets up everything that is going to happen in the middle of your movie from a character perspective. Why am I making this point and clarifying? 

Because the Set-Up Event is not the inciting incident. It’s crucial to understand the difference here. The Set-Up Event is directly related to your character, and the inciting incident is related to the overall plot of the coming adventure. I used the example in the previous newsletter from the Denzel Washington movie, DÉJÀ VU. The very first scene of that movie involves a boat full of people being blown up. We see the carnage, the devastation, the loss of life. It’s awful. But there is zero character involvement – yet, anyway. And this is why the inciting incident and the set-up event can get confusing, because the inciting incident does eventually affect your Main Character, but when it technically happens on screen, the audience doesn’t necessarily know that it is or will be affecting the Main Character. 

Why is this important?

It’s important because, as writers, we need to be able to quickly differentiate the difference between plot and character. The plot is just the basic series of events that occur throughout the story that give the overview of the world, arena, and general development of the journey as a whole (I am HIGHLY generalizing). Character, on the other hand, is specifically the series of moments that affect change in the character. The moments we see on screen that force the character to be different. Relationships, flaw confrontation, personal victories and defeat. To learn something. To act in a different way. To be better than they were before (or worse, if that’s the kind of story you’re telling). Look at it this way, and we’ll use a scary movie as an example since I started this newsletter off with a reference to witchcraft and devil worshipping (I still don’t know why I went there, but whatever...here we go): 

The Nicole Kidman movie, THE OTHERS. We’ll use that as a quick example. Let’s say you love the movie – like I do – and you’re trying to explain what the movie is to someone who hasn’t seen it before. It’s tough because there is a huge and pretty amazing twist that occurs at the end. And personally, I think it’s an even better twist than THE SIXTH SENSE, but anyway…when trying to explain the movie to someone, how would you go about it? You might first say, “Oh it’s a movie about a mother who has two children that are allergic to sunlight, but they live in this huge old mansion with giant windows and she’s constantly trying to close the drapes and make sure the kids don’t go into certain rooms because it’s too difficult to protect them from the light. But (and suddenly you’re inching toward our topic of the day) the mother keeps noticing that doors are unlocking on their own. The drapes are pulled back, and she is hearing voices and is concerned her house is haunted. As she’s trying to discover what’s going on in the house, she discovers a horror that involves a personal revelation she never expected.” 

Overall, what do you think of that description? It’s OK. Nothing amazing. But you just described the plot of the movie with very little character connection. I mean, it’s impossible to explain the plot without mentioning character, but we’re not mentioning the evolution and development of the character. So, really, that description is kind of boring (arguable, but go with me here). Why? Because you’re primarily focusing on only the plot. 

Now let’s look at it from a character point of view, and if anyone has yet to see THE OTHERS, I apologize but I’m giving away the twist here. You have been forewarned. “Oh, it’s a story about a widow living in a mansion with her two kids who she believes are allergic to sunlight, but really she’s just terrified to lose her kids and keeps them locked up inside all day, every day. When crazy hauntings start occurring in the house that endanger her children from being exposed to the sunlight, she tries to figure out why the house is haunted and to stop it from happening. But (and here’s a spoiler alert for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet) she discovers that she is actually the one haunting the house, and the weird things that are happening in the house are actually the living people who are in turn reacting to her. Even worse, she suddenly remembers that she lost her mind when she lost her husband to the war, and she murdered her two children before committing suicide.” 

That is quite a bit more interesting than explaining just the plot of the story. Character evolution is much more entertaining because there’s a connection to a human element – something relatable to which the audience can connect.

Let’s circle back a little here because by mentioning “something relatable”, it reminds me of the previous newsletter, and it might be a good idea to do a recap. The first sequence in your script – roughly the first ten pages – is dedicated to introducing your Main Character, her sweet-and-sour traits, and the world in which she is currently. The second sequence revolves around the Set-Up Event. The moment or series of moments that propel the Main Character into a new world and, here’s the important point to remember, gives the audience a glimpse into what the hero will experience throughout the 2nd Act. Yes, a glimpse. It’s important to note that it’s just a glimpse, because in Sequence 3, a Secondary Character, a helper, if you will, will come along to finally vault that Main Character into the 2nd Act and onto her journey. 

If we put a little bit of psychology into this, any time you experience something big for the first time, something big enough that you can tell will change your life in some way, there will be a natural hesitation - a natural reaction that involves pause, at the very least. Most people may even just plain say “no way. I’m not doing that.” So the Set-up Event is exactly that, it’s setting up the character for major change, to eventually make a choice, and then pursue something. It’s altering their thought process, their physical connection to their current world, or just offering them a new way to do something. An opportunity. And not every opportunity is immediately taken or seized. Often times, like I said, we hesitate, need to think about it, or we downright avoid it. 

It’s up to you, the writer, to decide what kind of character you’re writing and, therefore, it’s up to you to decide how that character will react to the set up of major change. Just to dive into character development a little more, I want to make a note in order to keep some of my readers from responding to all of this with, “Well what about this movie, or this character, or this character doesn’t change and this character...blah blah blah.” Listen, without real change, without real evolution of some kind, your story is going to bore the hell out of the reader. It’s just the way it is, so deal with it.

With that being said, yes there are movies and stories where the Main Character doesn’t have a huge arc, or an arc at all. We’ve all seen BACK TO THE FUTURE or at least know it well enough. Marty McFly is basically the same character throughout the movie. There aren’t overt and obvious lessons he’s learning along the way, however, he is seeing how similar to his dad he actually is even though on the outside, they couldn’t be more different. There is a lesson of relatability going on, even though Marty isn’t having revelatory moments. He does, though, finally make a decision not to be his old self when at the end of the third movie he decides not to race his new truck. But let’s circle back to the Set-Up Event for that movie. What is its Set-Up Event? There is one in each of the three movies, and they combine Sequences 2 and 3 into one long scene (the Secondary Character introduction, which we’ll cover in tomorrow’s newsletter).

The audience hadn’t yet met Doc Brown before Marty gets to the Two Pines Mall parking lot in the first film. We’ve heard Doc on the phone a couple of times, but we haven’t met him yet. We’re introduced to Doc when he reveals the DeLorean to Marty. And Doc reveals the upcoming adventure that Doc is evidently going to go on – he’s going to travel back in time with his new time machine. But what happens? The Libyans! The Libyans force Doc and Marty to run, escape, dodge, etc. Doc is even shot and supposedly killed. Marty doesn’t want to go back in time. He doesn’t want to say goodbye to Doc, but his entire life changed within that one scene, and now he doesn’t have a choice. He’s a Reluctant Hero, and that is how the entire adventure is staged for the rest of the movie. But that scene is also a big glimpse into what the audience can expect to see throughout the remainder of the movie. Yes, it sets up the style, the tone, type of action and visuals, but what has The Set-Up Event done for Marty? It sets up the potential for a brand experience without a choice. There is a massive level of a coming unknown, not only for Marty, but also the audience, and Marty will eventually realize that he can save Doc from being shot in 1985 (which gives him purpose beyond just trying to get his parents to fall in love again). The true beauty of BACK TO THE FUTURE is that it’s just one giant obstacle after another. Things constantly get in the way and force Marty to adapt, even though he would much rather be doing something else (still holding to that reluctant hero story paradigm). Along the way, though, Marty interacts with his teenage father and learns a ton about his parents, but most importantly and because of his interactions, he learns about his own flaws, fears, and just how similar he is to people he thought he had nothing in common with.

The 2nd Act needs to be a series of obstacles for that Main Character, but the possibility of coming obstacles is set up within the second sequence and by way of that Secondary helper Character in Sequence 3. I’ll dive into Sequence 3 in the next newsletter, because so much hinges on that Secondary Character. 

This newsletter’’s quote is by some Italian guy from the Renaissance. Maybe you’ve heard of him – Leonardo Da Vinci. The reason I’m choosing this quote is because every moment of the 1st Act of your script is setting up the upcoming adventure. So while I focused on something called, specifically, “the Set-Up Event”, as if it’s a singular event, it’s still important to remember that that first act is a staging area for the 2nd Act Adventure to come. And, the most important thing to remember about the 2nd Act is...? It must be action-oriented. It must be filled with forward momentum through a level of actionable choices, either by the Main Character or someone else who is making decisions for the Main Character. (By “action, I don’t necessarily mean the genre.)

So, here’s Mr. Da Vinci:

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough. We must apply. Being willing is not enough. We must do.” 

So get out there and do. Get out there and write. This business of writing is pretty simple. If you’re not writing, you’re not a writer. If you’re writing. You’re a writer. So…write! You may be on the verge of an incredible adventure. 

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